How We Know AIPAC Wrote The GOP’s “Treason” Letter To Iran

MJ ROSENBERG 

This past weekend 47 senators (all Republicans) sent this letter to the Iranian government, warning it not to sign any agreement with President Obama because they will make sure it does not go into effect. The purpose of the letter is to sabotage negotiations, enabling Israel to proceed to consider other ways to deal with the possibility that Iran will develop nuclear weapons, i.e. through war not diplomacy.

Because the letter seems at least borderline treasonous–senators telling a foreign power not to bother negotiating with the President–some question whether AIPAC was involved in drafting it. After all, the 47 Republican senators will, we know from experience, do anything to harm President Obama’s initiatives without regard to niceties like the law or the Constitution. But AIPAC? Would they go that far.

The answer is simple.

On all matters relating to Israel and the Middle East in general, AIPAC writes the legislation (or letters, resolutions, etc) which are then handed over to legislators to drop in the hopper, gather cosponsors, and get it passed or sent. Not only that, the ideas for these initiatives come out of AIPAC rather than (as is usually the case with lobbies) starting with the Member of Congress who then asks the lobby for help with drafting. AIPAC does it all, from soup to nuts.

I know this because back in my days working as a Congressional aide, I participated in that process. Mea culpa!

I was working for Congresswoman Nita Lowey, a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. Those are the committees that ostensibly produce the foreign aid bill, including the $3.5 billion Israel aid package.

Here is how it worked. (Although I focus on the Lowey experience, every other Israel initiative I worked on, and there were dozens, went through the same process, whether on the authorizing or appropriating side, or in the House or Senate).

An AIPAC lobbyist sent over its demands, the specific provisions it wanted in the bill.  Everypossible provision was spelled out, not just the big aid items but small ones and also the specific details of how the money must be disbursed.

Every Member of the Committee considered friendly to AIPAC was given the exact same language. Then those legislators would write letters to the chairman stating that, after due consideration, this is what they wanted in the bill. AIPAC tries to get as many Members of the Committee to include the same language as possible. It invariably got all the Democrats and most of the Republicans. None of them changed a word.

The chairman, upon receiving the letters, and knowing that a clear majority wanted the AIPAC provisions, simply included them in the bill. AIPAC’s name was never mentioned nor was the fact that Israel itself crafted the specific language along with the AIPAC lobbyists. No Member of Congress changed a word. (One recent chairman, David Obey, a progressive from Wisconsin, hated the idea that AIPAC decided what would be in the bill. He wanted more money for the needy, at home and worldwide. But he knew that AIPAC, and not him, controlled the majority of the votes. There was nothing he could do.)

Bottom line: the foreign aid bill is written and then enacted by AIPAC. And not just the Israel portions either. AIPAC (and Israel) also craft the parts dealing with Egypt, the #2 aid recipient after Israel. AIPAC also wrote the Iran sanctions laws. In fact, there have been no major laws or resolutions that did not originate at AIPAC.

It’s no different with a Congressional letter. If a legislator wants to write a letter to the president supporting something Israel wants, he must get AIPAC’s approval. AIPAC (1) will then either write the letter or edit it (2) decide if that particular legislator will be allowed to sponsor it and (3) decide whether or not the legislator can attract signers by saying it is AIPAC-approved.

On all matters related to Israel, Iran, Palestinians, etc, AIPAC support is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

I suppose it is possible that the Senators treason letter was written without AIPAC. I mean, it’s possible that a meteor will destroy all human life tomorrow, But, believe me, 47 senators are not going to undertake an initiative this serious on AIPAC’s #1 issue without the lobby’s approval. The letter would have disappeared into the ether if AIPAC did not want to undermine the president this way. No senator, let alone 47, would ever treat AIPAC like that. Never.

Can I swear that AIPAC wrote the letter. No. I can only say that in the years I either worked for AIPAC (1973-1975,1982-1986), for Members of Congress or State Department’s USAID  (1982-1986,1987-1995,1995-1998) or at Israel Policy Forum (1998-2009), no Israel initiative ever moved in Congress without AIPAC in the lead. Not one (unless it did not tow the line). The only thing that has changed since is that AIPAC is more aggressive and Congress is even more in its thrall.

The treason letter is an AIPAC production. Like the Netanyahu appearance in Congress last week, it represents a new low. But, as is the case with NO other issue, the other party (the Democrats) is unlikely to scream at holler about this outrageous action because, just like the Republicans, the Democrats are owned by AIPAC.

Meanwhile, thanks to this ugly bipartisanship, America could find itself dragged into another Middle East war, a war that will make the Iraq debacle look like a day in the park.

http://mjrosenberg.net/2015/03/09/how-we-know-aipac-wrote-the-treason-letter-to-iran/